We all know that negative news attracts readers—it has even captured my attention from time to time. Since news agencies earn their money from readers, they have an incentive to focus on the negative and make mountains out of mole hills in order to maximize their readership. We do not need to look any further than the handling of the current pandemic to see how news agencies capitalize on fear by blowing news out of proportion.I’ve been looking closely at the 2008-2009 market decline to see how the current market might play out. News influences consumer sentiment and so I was was curious to see how long the news continued to be negative despite the marketing recovering.During my research, I found negative news articles every month of every year leading up to December 2019 even though the stock market had tripled in value from its March 2009 lows. In the chart above, I’ve highlighted some of the headlines against the stock market.Investing is an optimistic activity—you hope that things will be more favorable in the future than they are now. When deciding how and when to invest, beware of those who have an ulterior motive to make the future look as bleak as possible.
